Roma!

We have germination of various things in the tomato pots that are clearly not tomatoes... and, I think, we have several Roma tomatoes coming up. Probably the one variety I was least invested in successfully germinating, but it's a promising start. And it has, after all, been less than two weeks since I planted them -- it just doesn't feel like it!

Unfortunately the temperatures have gone down again since the weekend, so I'm struggling to keep the pots above 60F indoors, never mind 70F...

Snowed under by spam

Since uploading Chapter 1 of "Ashes" to fanfiction.net I have received a flood of *nineteen* new spam PMs offering to sell me 'artwork' for it, and two spam reviews on the story, one of which is evidently AI-generated:

Wow, this story is absolutely captivating! The blend of rich historical detail, romance, and intrigue makes it feel like stepping into a lost era—Roland and Marthe's dynamic is just delightful.

**Tip:** You could enhance the emotional stakes even more by diving deeper into Roland's internal conflict about his identity and past, letting readers feel his turmoil firsthand. Fantastic storytelling!

Also a little ironic given how much trouble I've been to in *removing* the 'deep dive' into "Roland's internal conflict about his identity and his past", which is not actually the subject of the story...